Africa Is Not a Country

Last updated
Africa Is Not a Country
Africa Is Not a Country.jpg
Author Dipo Faloyin
Publication date
2022

Africa Is Not a Country is a 2022 nonfiction book written by Dipo Faloyin. [1] [2] [3] The book is subtitled Notes on a Bright Continent in the United States [3] and Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa in the United Kingdom. [2]

Contents

Author

Dipo Faloyin was born in Chicago, raised in Lagos and currently lives in London. [4] He is a senior editor and writer for Vice magazine and has written for The Guardian , Esquire, Newsweek , Dazed, I-D , The Huffington Post , Refinery29 and Prospect. [4] His writings have focused on themes of culture, race and identity in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. [4]

Content

Africa Is Not a Country seeks to challenge common stereotypes about Africa that are found in the Western world. Faloyin argued that Africa has been treated "as if it were a single country, devoid of nuance". [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Kingdom</span> Country in north-west Europe

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, simply known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of the smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is 242,495 square kilometres (93,628 sq mi), with an estimated 2023 population of over 68 million people.

<i>Song of the South</i> 1946 American live-action animated film

Song of the South is a 1946 American live-action/animated musical drama film directed by Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson; produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is based on the Uncle Remus stories as adapted by Joel Chandler Harris, and stars James Baskett as Uncle Remus in his final film role. The film takes place in Georgia during the Reconstruction era, a period of American history after the end of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. The story follows seven-year-old Johnny who is visiting his grandmother's plantation for an extended stay. Johnny befriends Uncle Remus, an elderly worker on the plantation, and takes joy in hearing his tales about the adventures of Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear. Johnny learns from the stories how to cope with the challenges he is experiencing while living on the plantation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnic stereotype</span> Belief in certain typical characteristics for a grouping of people

An ethnic stereotype, racial stereotype or cultural stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype, or national character, does the same for a given nationality. The stereotyping may be used for humor in jokes, and/or may be associated with racism.

Wigger or wigga is a term for a white person of European ethnic origin who emulates the perceived mannerisms, language, and fashions associated with African-American culture, particularly hip hop. The term is a portmanteau of white and nigger, or white nigger.

The phrase fresh off the boat(FOB), off the boat(OTB), are sometimes-derogatory terms used to describe immigrants who have arrived from a foreign nation and have yet to assimilate into the host nation's culture, language, and behavior, but still continue with their ethnic ideas and practices. Within ethnic Asian circles in the United States, the phrase is considered politically incorrect and derogatory. It can also be used to describe the stereotypical behavior of new immigrants as, for example, their poor driving skills, that they are educated yet working low-skilled or unskilled jobs, and their use of broken English. The term originates in the early days of immigration, when people mostly migrated to other countries by ship. "Fresh off the Boeing 707" is sometimes used in the United States as a variation, especially amongst East, South and Southeast Asian immigrants. In the United Kingdom "fresh off the boat" are referred to as freshies or simply FOBs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English-speaking world</span> Regions where English is used

The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories where English is either an official, administrative, or cultural language. As of the 2000s, nearly 2 billion people globally speak English, making it the largest language by number of speakers, and the third largest language by number of native speakers, as well as the most geographically widespread language. The regions where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population, due to cultural connections to England, are termed "the Anglosphere". Speakers of English are called Anglophones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kumaran Asan</span> Indian poet

Mahakavi Kumaran Asan was a poet of Malayalam literature, Indian social reformer and a philosopher. He is known to have initiated a revolution in Malayalam poetry during the first quarter of the 20th century, transforming it from the metaphysical to the lyrical and his poetry is characterised by its moral and spiritual content, poetic concentration and dramatic contextualisation. He is one of the triumvirate poets of Kerala and a disciple of Sree Narayana Guru. He was awarded the prefix "Mahakavi" in 1922 by the Madras university which means "great poet".

Lobamba is a city in Eswatini, and is one of the two capitals, serving as the legislative, traditional, spiritual, seat of government of the Parliament of Eswatini, and Ludzidzini Royal Village, the residence of Queen Ntfombi, the Queen Mother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stereotypes of African Americans</span> Generalizations and stereotypes linked to racism against African Americans

Stereotypes of African Americans are misleading beliefs about the culture of people with partial or total ancestry from any black racial groups of Africa. whose ancestors resided in the United States since before 1865, largely connected to the racism and the discrimination which African Americans are subjected to. These beliefs date back to the slavery of black people during the colonial era and they have evolved within American society.

Negrophobia is characterized by a fear, hatred or extreme aversion to Black people and Cape Coloureds or Coloureds, and Black culture worldwide. Caused amongst other factors by racism and traumatic events and circumstances, symptoms of this phobia include but are not limited to the attribution of negative characteristics to Black and Coloured people, the fear or the strong dislike of Black and Coloured men and the objectification of Black and Coloured women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ovambo language</span> Bantu language

The Ovambo language is a dialect cluster spoken by the Ovambo people in southern Angola and northern Namibia, of which the written standards are Kwanyama and Ndonga.

<i>Decanter</i> (magazine) English wine magazine

Decanter is a wine and wine-lifestyle media brand. It includes a print and digital magazine, fine wine tasting events, a news website, a subscription website - Decanter Premium, and the Decanter World Wine Awards. The magazine, published in about 90 countries on a monthly basis, includes industry news, vintage guides and wine and spirits recommendations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun</span> Naval gun

The QF 12-pounder 12-cwt gun (Quick-Firing) was a common, versatile 3-inch (76.2 mm) calibre naval gun introduced in 1894 and used until the middle of the 20th century. It was produced by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick and used on Royal Navy warships, exported to allied countries, and used for land service. In British service "12-pounder" was the rounded value of the projectile weight, and "12 cwt (hundredweight)" was the weight of the barrel and breech, to differentiate it from other "12-pounder" guns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commonwealth of Nations</span> Political association of mostly former British Empire territories

The Commonwealth of Nations, often simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Commonwealth Secretariat, which focuses on intergovernmental aspects, and the Commonwealth Foundation, which focuses on non-governmental relations among member states. Numerous organisations are associated with and operate within the Commonwealth.

<i>King Matt the First</i>

King Matt the First is a children's novel by Polish author, physician, and child pedagogue Janusz Korczak. In addition to telling the story of a young king's adventures, it describes many social reforms, particularly targeting children, some of which Korczak enacted in his own orphanage, and is a thinly veiled allegory of contemporary and historical events in Poland. The book has been described as being as popular in Poland as Peter Pan was in the English-speaking world. It was the first of Korczak's novels to be translated into English – several of his pedagogical works have been translated, and more recently his novel Kaytek the Wizard was also published in English.

African Americans, and African American males in particular, have an ethnic stereotype in which they are portrayed as dangerous criminals. This stereotype is associated with the fact that African Americans are proportionally over-represented in the numbers of those that are arrested and convicted for committing crimes. It has appeared frequently in American popular culture, reinforcing the negative consequences of systemic racism.

Neil Howe is an American author and consultant. He is best known for his work with William Strauss on social generations regarding a theorized generational cycle in American history. Howe is currently the managing director of demography at Hedgeye and he is president of Saeculum Research and LifeCourse Associates, consulting companies he founded with Strauss to apply Strauss–Howe generational theory. He is also a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Global Aging Initiative, and a senior advisor to the Concord Coalition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Hampton</span> American singer

Pete George Hampton was an American vocalist, harmonicist, banjo player, and vaudevillian from Bowling Green, Kentucky. He was part of various Vaudeville groups of which the most important were In Dahomey and his own Darktown Entertainers. He made more than 150 recordings during his career in the United Kingdom and Germany between 1903 and 1911. In 1904, he made the first harmonica recording by an African American, regarded as a pioneering example in the development of the blues harmonica style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Louis Gates Jr.</span> American literary critic, professor and historian (born 1950)

Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is a trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. He rediscovered the earliest known African-American novels and has published extensively on the recognition of African-American literature as part of the Western canon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alligator bait</span> Urban legend and racist trope

Depicting African-American children as alligator bait was a common trope in American popular culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. The motif was present in a wide array of media, including newspaper reports, songs, sheet music, and visual art. There is an urban legend claiming that black children or infants were in fact used as bait to lure alligators, although there is no meaningful evidence that children of any race were ever used for this purpose. In American slang, alligator bait is a racial slur for African-Americans.

References

  1. "Reminder: 'Africa Is Not a Country'". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2023-01-27.
  2. 1 2 Geographical.co.uk
  3. 1 2 Kirkus Reviews
  4. 1 2 3 Faloyin, Dipo (2023). Africa Is Not A Country. United Kingdom: Vintage. ISBN   978-1-529-11482-9.
  5. Faloyin, Dipo (2023). Africa Is Not a Country. United Kingdom: Vintage. p. 6. ISBN   978-1-529-11482-9.